Power Attack - Worth taking?

[Therigar]

I dont have always to keep AC maxed out? Why would that be? Raids? Low-lv quests?

I find a waste of a feat to put in something I'll be only using on raids for a minium +4 damage on hit that should make an overall no difference at all. If it did, than people would always want "Walk of the Sun" buff, that gives +2 - and they dont.

edit: being dex-based and using Wind IV (not depending on haste) is awesome, tyvm.

You do not always need max AC because you are not always the target of attacks IF you are playing as part of a group. I do recognize that many people get into a group and then act as if it is a solo adventure. It is not at all uncommon for every melee type to pick out a different target in some vain attempt to solo as many mobs as possible. Maybe the need to lead in the kill count is just too much.

However, as a member of a group if the melees gang up on one target at a time the aggro will be on whichever is doing most damage. Because most encounters involve <10 monsters at once this is not an unrealistic tactic. To the contrary, it is a very good tactic for most of the game. Thus the attacks are likely not headed your way.

True, as a dark monk you might have situational attacks that do massive damage and that probably will get you noticed. But most of the time you are not doing the massive damage. Instead you are just piling on with some benefits from flanking, etc.

A lot of people refer to this as "off tanking" and, while I don't particularly like that term, it does describe the melees that are bringing DPS w/o pulling aggro. Most DEX/WIS monks fit into that category. And, because they are not the target of attacks they don't need the 5 AC that CE gives. They contribute more by increasing their "off tank" damage by 5 points per hit.

[Odin's_Hugin]

You do not always need max AC because you are not always the target of attacks IF you are playing as part of a group. I do recognize that many people get into a group and then act as if it is a solo adventure. It is not at all uncommon for every melee type to pick out a different target in some vain attempt to solo as many mobs as possible. Maybe the need to lead in the kill count is just too much.

However, as a member of a group if the melees gang up on one target at a time the aggro will be on whichever is doing most damage. Because most encounters involve <10 monsters at once this is not an unrealistic tactic. To the contrary, it is a very good tactic for most of the game. Thus the attacks are likely not headed your way.

True, as a dark monk you might have situational attacks that do massive damage and that probably will get you noticed. But most of the time you are not doing the massive damage. Instead you are just piling on with some benefits from flanking, etc.

A lot of people refer to this as "off tanking" and, while I don't particularly like that term, it does describe the melees that are bringing DPS w/o pulling aggro. Most DEX/WIS monks fit into that category. And, because they are not the target of attacks they don't need the 5 AC that CE gives. They contribute more by increasing their "off tank" damage by 5 points per hit.

Interesting point of view. Even so, I find out that Im tanking stuff a lot, being either dark or light. Besides, things like Orthons or barbazus do Area damage to whoever is near them, not only the one in front.

And when there are tons of enemies (like Sins, some point of Genesis, Bastion, etc), you can hardly say that 5 ac is useless, since some of them will attack you instead of the official "tanker", unless he's using intimidate, which I find unlikely in the vast majority of the quests I do.

Also, getting hit less = my healing shield actually works better on healing the points I do lose.

[Therigar]

Well, in your situation then maybe you do need CE on all the time. OTOH, many people run those same quests at much lower ACs w/o problem. I'd be curious as to how that is possible. Maybe you have low HP or lack a fortification item or have some other issue with your monk that causes you to need the AC difference.

And, maybe I've misunderstood the amount of AC you are carrying. When you said you were a DEX/WIS monk I assumed you were running with >75 AC fully buffed and >65 AC w/o buffs but CE on. So, unless you are soloing or not getting party buffs and self buffing you should be at low risk in any case on all of the content you mentioned.